


Falling In Love and Into the Ocean

by TwoKidsInATrenchCoat



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: AU where Mugman and Cuphead never fought the devil but have their powers, Cala Maria is nineteen, Constructive Criticism Welcome, F/M, Mugman and Cuphead are eighteen, Mugman is a romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:42:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoKidsInATrenchCoat/pseuds/TwoKidsInATrenchCoat
Summary: Captain Brineybeard asks for Cuphead’s assistance in getting rid of a beast from the depths that is terrorizing the captain’s ship. But when Cuphead gets himself temporarily banned from adventuring due to his resume of getting hurt, it is up to Mugman to bring down the beast. But what do you do when the beast turns out to be the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen and you find yourself falling in love with her?
Relationships: Cala Maria & Mugman, Cala Maria/Mugman, Cuphead & Mugman (Cuphead)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is loosely based off a line from Casino Cups. Although this story does not take place in the same universe.

“Pleeeease!” Cuphead pleaded. “Cuphead. No. Can’t you just let this one go?” Mugman rolled his eyes. “No. No I can not. Do you really expect me to just let $10,000 go?!”

Mugman was getting very annoyed with Captain Brineybeard for even making the offer in the first place.

The brothers were known throughout Inkwell Isle as some of the strongest in the land because of their powers. So he guessed that they should have expected people to come and ask for help to bring down those who were causing trouble. But neither of them had expected Captain Brineybeard of all people to come to them with an offer.

The captain regaled them with a tale about how he had been trying to find the lost treasure of Atlantis. But just as he had been about to claim it for himself, a hideous gorgon rose from the sea and attacked his ship. He and his crew managed to escape with $10,000 worth of gold, but there were more riches back there. So he made an offer to Cuphead that if he took down the beast and came back with its head as proof, he’d give him the $10,000 of gold.

Unfortunately for Cuphead, he had recently gotten himself temporarily forbidden from adventuring due to all of the unnecessary risks he takes for the sake of money. So here he was now, begging Mugman to do it for him.

“Come on Mugs. I could probably convince Elder Kettle to let me go soon. But until then, could you at least scout out the sea? That monster could be headed anywhere. We need to get a head start!”

Mugman sighed in defeat. He could only take so much pestering, “Alright! I’ll do it so that you’ll get off my back. But I’m only scouting. I don’t want to fight anything.” The smile that got him almost quelled Mugman’s annoyance with his brother, almost, “Thank you! Thank you! Have I mentioned that you’re my favorite brother!” “Maybe once or twice,” Mugman rolled his eyes as he packed a bag and headed to his plane.


	2. Chapter 2

When Mugman set out on his plane, the sun had already set but he didn’t mind. He had always had good night vision and loved the view of the stars. Mugman sighed at their beauty. The night was so calm and quiet. He found himself going on autopilot as he got lost in his own thoughts.

That is why he didn’t notice when the stars disappeared behind the clouds and it became even harder to see in the darkness.

All of a sudden, he was jolted out of his peaceful state of mind by a clap of thunder. Mugman only managed to realize his mistake after it was too late. The storm quickly began to pick up and he was left to try and fly his plane without crashing into the sea stacks nearby. 

The winds became even more aggressive; it was so loud that he wasn’t sure if he was yelling or not. It was so dark, he couldn’t see anything. He was spinning around so much, he had no idea which way was up and which way was down. But he soon found out the answer when he hit the water.

Mugman began to lose consciousness upon impact. He felt himself sinking

down

down

down

down.

Then he noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t sure how he could tell, but he could have sworn he saw a streak of purple and green out of the corner of his eye.

He followed the streak’s movement up, and saw a gigantic shadow in front of him, but for some reason he wasn’t afraid of it.  
  


He just smiled at it as he lost consciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song I used is Perfect by 11 Acorn Lane

The first thing Mugman registered when he woke up was a world of pain. His head ached like mad, his limbs were sore, and he’s pretty sure he just felt a crab crawl out of his head. But the second thing his brain picked up on was a melody.

“ _Coffee and cake, lobster and steak, apples and pie, stars in the sky, diamonds and pearls, boys and girls._ ”

The pain was bad, but was almost as if the song was dulling it.

“ _Pepper and salt, Jesse and Walt, song and a dance, Paris and France, crackers and cheese, summer and a breeze._ ”

He cracked open a sea salt encrusted eye to see the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life. She was ginormous, about 70 feet tall. Her lower half was an emerald mermaid’s tail, whose scales glistened in the sun. Her upper half was mostly human. She had pale skin, a beautiful voice, and a purple octopus seemed to make up her hair.

“ _Perfect! Perfect! Wouldn’t change a thing about you. Perfect! Perfect! You were made for me_ ,” she sang, not paying him any mind, clearly lost in her own world.

She had her eyes closed while singing and hadn’t noticed he had woken up. Mugman, while still lying down, turn his head to observe his surroundings. 

He was sprawled out like a starfish on top of one of the sea stacks. It was much lower than the others but it was much flatter and wider too. Which was convenient, because when he turned his head to the right, he could see that the sea stack allowed enough room for his plane to be there without him having to worry about the wind pushing it off.

Relieved that his ride home wasn’t currently in an underwater trench, Mugman turned his head back to the left where the gorgeous mermaid was still sitting. Mugman quickly put two and two together. She must have been the one who saved him.

“ _Perfect! Perfect! Never seen a thing just like you. Perfect! Perfect! You were made for me_ ,” she continued to sing.

With a lot of effort, he sat up and waved at her, “Hello?!” The mermaid turned at the sound of his voice, opening her eyes to reveal the most stunning set of turquoise irises.

Mugman barely managed to get over how warm his blush was making his ceramic in time to notice the look of fear on her face. She looked frozen, like a deer in headlights.

He tried to start, “What’s your-”

But the look of fear only grew on her face at the sound of his voice and she promptly bolted, disappearing into the roaring waves.

“-name?” Mugman said to the sea. She had appeared and disappeared so quickly Mugman wondered if he had just hallucinated her. He shook his head and took a deep breath. If adventuring with Cuphead had taught him one thing, it’s that you always need to keep moving forward and get home as quickly as possible. 

He turned to his plane and found himself grateful for Cuphead’s shenanigans, since his brother’s dangerous stunts had led to their planes being designed to withstand even the worst of conditions. The storm put it through a lot, but it was in good enough shape to get him back to land.

Once he arrived home, Cuphead asked him what happened. Mugman made the excuse of getting caught in the storm and having to wait in a cave. He promised Elder Kettle that he’d be more careful next time, and immediately went to work on repairing his plane. It took a bit of elbow grease, but in two days, Mugman was flying out again, in search of the mermaid that had saved his life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of these chapters I’m going to make them actually talk to each other. But not yet.

As Mugman few over the ocean in search of the mermaid, he found himself losing hope.

He wanted to find her and thank her for saving him. Not to mention, warn her about the gorgon that was roaming the waters. But he’d been flying for hours now and not even a fish had bothered to break the surface of the calm waters.

Deciding to take a break, Mugman landed his plane on the same sea stack that he had first woken up on. He sighed and looked at the spot where he had first seen her sitting. She was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen. He knew he probably sounded a complete Romeo, but he’d give up a lot more than he was willing to admit just to see her again.

He gazed down at the water below, but instead of seeing a calm, still ocean, he saw a pair of turquoise eyes just below the surface, looking up at him. The water obscured her face, but he’d recognized those eyes anywhere.

Once they made eye contact, the mermaid smiled and started to swim away. Mugman scrambled to get back into his plane and got off the ground to follow her. She led him on a chase through the sea stacks. They both dipped, dived, and dodged as they went along.

At some point, Mugman lost sight of her. But that didn’t last long when he heard a “Yoo hoo!” from behind him. He turned around just in time to get a face full of water.

Now normally Cuphead is the competitive brother who will put anything on the line just to prove something, but it was a little know secret that that competitiveness also resided in Mugman, and it ignited when he heard the mermaid giggling at him.

Mugman smiled sweetly at her before suddenly putting his plane on full throttle. He raced passed her head, causing the wind to make her octopus hair go in all crazy directions.

The mermaid yelped and stared him in shock for a second. But then she took a hand to smooth her hair back into place and gave him a determined grin.

Mugman took the silent challenge and they spent the rest of the day battling, although it hardly felt like that. If anything, it felt more like dancing. As they chased each other through the sea stacks, Mugman felt a sort of silent rhythm developing in their actions.

For every fish that she tried to get him with, he would dodge expertly. For every blast of energy he sent her way (of course he was giving her a more mild dose), she would take the hit and send even more fish his way. The mermaid had quite a few good moves and Mugman was determined to prove that he did too.

Despite this being an unofficial brawl, it was admittedly a lot of fun. Both competitors were grinning the whole way through. But when Mugman saw a couple of eels beginning to swim around the mermaid, to come to her aid, he became worried that things were about to go too far. So he called out to her, “Wait! Please! I just want to talk to you!” The mermaid and her eels froze at him. She eyed him suspiciously, but then she gasped in fear and dove back under the water.

At first Mugman thought that he had done something wrong, but then he heard an _boom!_ sound behind him and a cannon ball shot past his plane and landed into the spot of ocean where the mermaid had been. Mugman turned around in confusion and frustration to see Captain Brineybeard’s ship zooming towards him at record pace.

Mugman met them half way and landed on the deck. He got out of his plane, but before he could get a word in edgewise, Captain Brineybeard started talking, “Good work out there lad. Not saying that ya weren’t holding yer own, but we were glad to lend ya some assistance.”

“What?” Mugman questioned, but the captain hadn’t heard him, “If we keep this up, we’ll have that damned beast’s head on a pike in no time.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Mugman cut in, horrified at the mental image Captain Brineybeard had just presented him with, “I thought you said you were after a hideous gorgon. I was um...fighting a mermaid.”

Captain Brineybeard stared at him before laughing, “Lad! Twas the beast, in its first form! It lures ya in with its beauty, but soon enough, the monster underneath gets revealed. I thought I was going to let you handle defeating it, but soon as I saw those eels circling around it I knew I needed to help ya out.”

Mugman could feel the liquid in his head going cold. He search the captain’s face for some sort of sign that he was lying or joking, but it was clear he meant every word. The boy took a deep breath, desperately trying to keep his reputation as the calm and rational brother, “Captain...wasn’t there, oh, um... **any other time** you might have wanted to have told me this?!!!”

Brineybeard shrugged, “I did. When I was explain’ it ta Cuphead. But, if I recall correctly, ya had yer nose in a book at the time cause ya were so sure ya weren’t going after the monster.”

Mugman facepalmed. Both at his own stupidity, and at Fate, which was most certainly laughing at him and his precarious situation. Leave it to him to become smitten with the very girl he’s supposed to behead.


	5. Chapter 5

Mugman had been pacing around in his room for about an hour now while his mind screamed at him, “You idiot! This is a disaster! You can’t kill her! But the captain will surely become suspicious if you just try to back out of the deal!”

Mugman took a deep breath. “It’s fine,” he told himself. He could probably make an excuse and back out of the deal. Although he didn’t know why the thought of leaving that mermaid to fend for herself against Captain Brineybeard made his stomach curl. It’s not like they were actually a couple or anything.

Mugman decided to ask himself a few questions in the hopes that it would convince himself that ditching the deal was a good idea.

Was she the most exquisite thing he’d ever seen? Yes.

Did her competitiveness, fearlessness, and determination make her exactly his type? Yes.

Did he have the most fun he’d ever had in a while with her yesterday? Yes.

Did he feel a strong kinship with her? One that was formed due to being able to sense exactly what the other was thinking without having to say a word? ….Mugman sighed. He knew the answer to that one too.

Mugman was about to contemplate his doom some more when he heard a screech from outside along with the booming of cannons. He recognized the mermaid’s voice immediately and ran to his plane. He followed the sounds to the docks where he arrived just in time to see his beautiful mermaid fighting Brineybeard’s ship.

She had clearly done a lot of damage to the ship, but it had also put up a fight against her. Her skin was littered with gashes and burns from the cannon balls and their heat. A singular cannon ball couldn’t do a lot on it’s own because of how big she was, but Brineybeard was relentless in his attacks and the wounds were quickly adding up.

Then, Mugman saw the eels circling around her. Two of them rose up out of the water and bit her on each side. Mugman stared in shock and horror as the mermaid screamed in pain. It lasted a few seconds, yet had felt like a lifetime. But once it was over, the second form that Captain Brineybeard had warned him about emerged. Her octopus hair transformed into snakes, her skin was now tainted green, and her eyes were now a piercing yellow.

Mugman wanted to groan. She was still a stone cold knockout, even in this form.

Emphasis on the stone. As soon as she finished her transformation, her eyes emitted a blast of green light and the captain, along with his ship, was turned to stone. 

The mermaid, now in gorgon form, dove back into the waters and began swimming away, with Mugman hot on her tail. He tried not to pay any mind to how he heard Captain Brineybeard breaking free from his stone prison and cheering Mugman on to kill her.

Fortunately for him, Brineybeard was soon lost to the horizon and Mugman turned his focus to following the gorgon. She zigzagged through the sea stacks, in an effort to lose him or at least slow him down, but Mugman had learned from his last encounter and dodged them all with ease.

They had found themselves racing along a cliffside when she took a sharp turn into a cave within the cliff. This was clearly an attempt to ditch him, but Mugman was a skilled piolet and was able to make the turn.

He followed her deeper into the cave and found her at the back where it became very apparent that she had just corner herself. “Nononono!” she rambled while banging her fist against the wall as if that would create more room to swim away.

Mugman landed his plane on a miniature cliff that had formed inside of the cave. When she realized that he had caught up with her, the mermaid made a move to blot again. But Mugman was tired of chasing after her so he called out, “WAIT! I’m not going to hurt you!”

The mermaid froze and stared at him in confusion and pressed herself against the wall of the cave, still not entirely trustful. “What do you want?!” she snapped at him, clearly trying to appear intimidating, but it was apparent that the battle and the subsequent chase had taken a lot out of her. She just looked exhausted.

The lack of intimidation was further emphasized when an electric current ran through her, causing her skin to smoke slightly, as the last of her gorgon form left her and she was fully reverted back to a mermaid. She whined in pain and Mugman winced sympathetically.

The mermaid slumped in defeat, thinking that she had been bested. Her head was now against the cliff side. So Mugman walked over and took a bottle out of his bag. The mermaid sensed him coming and braced herself for her fate.

Mugman chose to ignore her tenseness and unscrewed the bottle of healing potion and proceeded pour its contents over her head. The potion slid down her body and soon enough all of her wounds were healed without a scar.

“What the Hell?” the mermaid murmured in amazement. She straighted her back, allowing her to be eye level with Mugman, who was still standing on the cliff. She smiled at him in wonder and the very sight of it made Mugman feel like he was going to implode at any moment. But it only lasted for a few seconds before her eyes flooded with suspicion again, “What’s the catch?” she questioned.

Mugman was confused, “Umm...what?” “You wouldn’t be helping me if there wasn’t anything in it for you. So what do you want from me? Or are you going to save the favor for a rainy day?” Mugman’s was slightly saddened by her attitude toward humanity and that she would have so little faith in it. But he didn’t allow himself to become discouraged.

“Yes. I would like something in return,” he said. The mermaid braced herself, “And what would that be?”

“I want,” he paused for dramatic effect, “to know your name.”

Mugman had to hold back a laugh at the look on her face. “What?” she asked, absolutely mistified. “What’s your name? I’ll go first if that makes it easier. I’m Mugman.” The mermaid stared at him for three more seconds before saying, “My name is Cala Maria.”

Cala Maira. It was singlehandedly the most beautiful name Mugman had ever heard. “Cala Maria. So you’re the one that saved me on that stormy night?”

Cala looked embarrassed, “Yeah, but I was sloppy. You weren’t supposed to see me.” “Well I’m glad I did,” Mugman lightly disagreed, “Cause I had fun when we were chasing each other through those sea stacks.” Cala smiled fondly, “Yeah. Sorry about nearly going into my second form. I got a little overexcited.” Mugman waved it off, “It’s fine. My brother Cuphead does way worse on a daily basis. That’s why I keep some of the healing potion I used on you with me at all times.”

“You’re just prepared for anything aren’t you?”

“I try to be. How are you feeling by the way? Any pain?”

“Nope all better. Thank you by the way. Creatures from land aren’t always nice to me. It’s good to know there’s at least one exception.”

If Mugman wasn’t blushing before, then he definitely was now, “H-happy to help.” 

They stood in comfortable silence for a bit until the quiet was interrupted by the sound of a ship passing in the distance. They were far away enough that they wouldn’t be seen, but close enough to hear Captain Brineybeard’s curses and how he was going to slay the beast and mount its head on the wall.

“Well now, isn’t he a charmer,” Mugman said sarcastically once the ship had passed. Cala snorted in amusement; and Mugman only barely stopped himself from doing a victory dance for making her laugh. “Why did you attack him if he’s already so mad at you?” Mugman asked instead.

Cala glared at the ship, “You probably already know that Grimybeard is after the treasure of Atlantis, but what he probably forgot to mention is that it belongs to my family. I attacked his ship the first time to defend what was rightfully mine,” she sighed, “And today, I made the mistake of attacking him on his own playing field because I had been trying to get back some gold he had stolen, but you saw how well that went.”

Mugman nodded in understanding, “And now he’s out for your head.” Cala shrugged. “So what about you?” she asked, “If you’re not here to kill me, then what brings you out to the ocean, time and time again?”

“You,” was what Mugman wanted to say, but he shoved the romantic thought aside and decided to give the honest truth. “My brother, Cuphead. He and Brineybeard made a deal that if Cuphead or me could get your...uh...head. We’d get that gold that he stole from you as a reward.”

Cala didn’t immediately kill him which was nice, but she did look confused, “Why not? Why would you turn down that much gold?”

Mugman resisted the urge to roll his eyes, “You sound life my brother,” he then looked her dead in the eye, “but unlike him, I have priorities other than riches.”

Mugman could have sworn he saw Cala blushed a little or it might have been a trick of the light. Cala cleared her throat, “R-right, but what now? Brineybeard is stubborn and won’t quit until he’s taken me down, and he won’t appreciate you backing out of your deal.”

The gears were turning in Mugman’s head as something resembling a plan came to him, “I think I might have an idea, but it will only work if you help me. Whadaya say?”

Cala Maria grinned and leaned in, cupping a hand to her ear, “What do you have in mind?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t understand how to write romance! In the comments, please either give me some advice on how to write characters falling in love, or at least tell me that I didn’t do as bad of job as I think I did. Pretty please.


	6. Chapter 6

Mugman found Captain Brineybeard’s ship parked back at the docks. He ran up to the man, “Captain! I got the head of the beast!” Brineybeard grinned, “Well done lad! Uhh...where is it?” Mugman smiled sweetly, “Why, right here!” He gestured to the water and Cala Maria rose up. 

Brineybeard looked panicked but Mugman continued, “I’ll take that gold now.” “Lad! Have ya lost yer mind! You’ve led it right to us!”

Mugman rolled his eyes, “Now, there’s no need for a fight. If she was hostile, she would have already attacked.”

“But how did you-?”

“It doesn’t matter how. I just want the gold now. If you’ll recall, your demand was that I present you with the head of the beast. But you never specified whether or not it needed to be attached to the body.”

“But-”

“I held up my end of the deal, so hand over the gold. Or is there going to be a problem?” Mugman glared menacingly.

Brineybeard could take on a serpent any day, but he had heard too much about to formidable brothers to want one of them to be holding a grudge against him. It also helped that Mugman had a powerful mermaid towering over the boat too.

Brineybeard forked over the gold and even promised to leave Cala Maria alone as a peace offering. Although, he couldn’t deny that it stung when as soon as Mugman had the gold, he turned around and gave it back to Cala Maria.

\--------------------------------------------

A few hours after getting the gold back from Brineybeard, Mugman and Cala Maria were back at the sea stack on which they first met. Mugman stood while Cala had propped herself up with her arms while the rest of her was in the ocean.

“Thanks again,” Cala smiled. “Oh it was really no big deal,” Mugman said, trying to act casual and not freak out like he was internally. 

“You know, I still think that you should get some sort of reward since you didn’t end up getting the gold,” she said. “Oh no, I couldn’t. Doing the right thing is it’s own reward and-” Mugman’s speech was cut short when Cala shut him up with a kiss.

“How’s that for a reward?” Cala smirked. Mugman was to stunned to respond. “What? Not enough?” Cala fake-pouted, “Alright, you drive a hard bargain but I guess I could clear up my schedule to allow enough time for a date.” Mugman nodded dumbly, still starstruck, and not entirely convinced this was really happening.

“Meet me here at eight pm tomorrow? I’d love to look at the stars with you.”

Mugman’s brain finally managed to catch up in time for him to grin and say, “Yes. I’d love that Cala.” Cala Maria smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before waving goodbye and sinking back into the ocean.

Mugman grinned all the way back home. He did his best to suppress his smile when he broke the news to his brother that they wouldn’t be receiving any treasure. But at night, looking up at the stars, he couldn’t contain his dopey smile at the thought of seeing his wonderful Cala Maria again.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos make my day!


End file.
